What does the strike mean for visitors and residents on Tenerife?

Travellers on Tenerife do not need to change flights or excursions for now. The general strike of Wednesday 11 November 2026 is over, and no further date has been set.

Roads stayed quiet, and the FET transport association called the impact on road traffic “practically negligible”. No reports of disruption for visitors turned up.

In the private sector, 1% went on strike on Tenerife, according to the CEOE Tenerife employers' association. No figures exist for individual sectors such as hotels or restaurants.

Union official Daniel Casal of the Federación Sindical Canaria floated a general strike for the Canaries alone. He said so after seeing the response to 11 November, and there is no decision or date.

How many people demonstrated in Santa Cruz de Tenerife?

The rally in Santa Cruz de Tenerife set off at 17:30 from the Plaza de Weyler. The march passed the Parlamento and ended at the Presidencia del Gobierno de Canarias, the seat of the regional government.

The figures differ widely. The Delegación del Gobierno, the central government's representation, counted 10,000 people, while the tenants' union Sindicato de Inquilinas said 40,000, and no incidents were reported.

In Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, police put the crowd at about 3,000. In Arrecife on Lanzarote, organisers spoke of more than 5,000, while police gave about 1,500 or about 2,300, depending on the report.

On La Palma, UGT and CCOO cancelled their march because of Storm Charles. Anyone out and about there felt the weather more than the strike.

What did the unions want?

CCOO and UGT called the strike, as Manuel Navarro (UGT Canarias) and Vanesa Frahija (CCOO Canarias) explained in Las Palmas on 22 October 2026. It was about housing, rents and wages.

The unions point out that 211,000 homes stand empty in the Canaries. According to sources close to them, 17,300 of those are in the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and 14,300 in the province of Las Palmas.

Rents in the Canaries have risen by 143% on average in 13 years, according to La Voz de Lanzarote. David González of the Sindicato de Inquilinas said so.

Casal said wages in the Canaries sit about 500 euros below the national average. The last general strike was 14 years ago and targeted the labour market reform under Rajoy.

How high was turnout really?

The unions gave high figures: UGT put turnout in the first hours at about 56% and CCOO at about 50%. CCOO saw peaks above that in the most heavily unionised sectors.

The authorities reported far lower figures. In the Canary health service SCS, 971 of 17,838 staff went on strike, or 5.44%.

The Función Pública, the regional civil service, gave a provisional 5.8% for the general regional administration. In education, the Inspección reported 11.74% at 11:00.

The figures cannot be compared. They come from different sectors and different times of day.

The unions planned to gather more data during the day. UGT representative Francisco González described turnout as sometimes higher, sometimes lower.

What did Almeida say about the strike in Madrid?

Almeida is mayor of Madrid, and his remark does not concern the Canaries. At Madrid's Ayuntamiento (city hall), turnout stood at 13.9% by his account, which the headline rounds to 14%.

Reports say he spoke of “normality” and of a firecracker, “petardazo” in Spanish. The full wording was not available to us.

The Madrid regional government gave 9.6% for its civil servants. Councillor Miguel Ángel García dismissed the strike in sharp terms.

The unions, by contrast, claimed turnout of up to 75%. That was not independently counted.

The union CSIF did not join the strike. It called instead for a state pact on the housing crisis.

What happens after 11 November?

Elections are planned for 29 November, a date UGT's Navarro pointed to in connection with the strike. Whether the strike achieves anything politically remains open.

A Canaries-only strike is so far just an option for the unions. There is no decision and no date.

The final turnout figures for the whole of Spain are also still open. We could confirm neither them nor any independent counts.